Restaurant-booth bench



2 Sheets-Sheet 1 D. RESNICK Filed OCL. l2, 1942' RES TAURANT-BOOTH BENCH @JUN U May 14, 1946.

May 14, 1946. D, RES'MCK 2,400,167

RES TAURANT-BOOTH BENCH Filed Oct. 12, l942 2 Sheets-Sheet Patented May 14, 1946 Application October 12, 1942, Serial No. 461,808

Claims. (Cl. 15S-e130) The present invention relates to furniture, and

more particularly to restaurant-booth benches.

Restaurant-booth patrons Who smoke frequently drop their lighted cigarette butts upon the booth-bench seats. As these seats usually slope downward toward the back-frame reclining wall, the butts have a tendency to roll down into the crack between the back of the seat and the reclining wall. In the crack, the butts often smoulder unseen until, finally, after an hour or several hours, the booth may catch re. The resulting damage may involve a total loss of a booth bench or a double-booth bench that costs considerable to replace.

An object of the invention is to prevent the butts rolling down into the crack between the back of the seat and the reclining wall. This may be eiiected by closing the upper line of YV the crack. The butts may still roll down the seat toward the back wall; but as they can not enter the crack, they will remain visible. An attendant may therefore easily remove them before they can cause damage.

lin this manner, not only cigarette butts, but other objects, such as bread crumbs, are prevented from becoming permanently lodged in the V is a, horizontal section taken upon the line 5`5 of Fig. 3, looking downward in the direction 0f the arrows; Figs. 6 and 7 are sections, upon a larger scale, taken respectively upon the lines 6-6 of Fig. 2 and I-l of Fig. 5, looking in the A directions of the arrows; Fig. 8 is a perspective booth bench or a double-booth bench. A doublethe restaurant patron may recline.

crack between the back of the seat and the back l wall of the booth bench.

A further object of the invention is to supply a trough along the said upper line of the crack, into which the butts or other objects may become deposited after rolling down the seat, and from which they may readily be removed. The trough may conveniently be in the form of a longitudinal semi-cylindrical section of metal pipe of suitable small diameter, built into the frame of the booth bench at the junction between the rear of the seat and the back wall, with the open end of the cylinder on top. w

Though restaurant-booth benches are manufactured in standard shapes and sizes, the iioors of the restaurants are often not level, or have other defects, consequently often causing the booth-bench seats to slope downward, from one end toward the other.

To overcome this difficulty, another object of the invention is to provide a novel adjustment between the base that carries the seats and the legs for supporting the same.

Other specific objects will be explained hereinafter and will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

The invention will now be explained more fully in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an all-wood double-booth bench embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a corresponding front elevation; Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken upon the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows; Fig. 4 is a section similar to Fig.' 3, but showing a different position of adjustment; Fig. 5

booth bench is illustrated 'as comprising a unit having two supporting seats 4 separated by more or less vertically disposed walls 8 against which The unit is shown supported by wooden or other bases I2 at the front of the respective seats 4 and by wooden blocks IE at the rear thereof. The bases `I2 and the blocks i6 are connected by cross braces 34. The seats 4 are secured to the base supports l2 at the front, and to the rear supports I6 at their rear, and they may be secured at intermediate points to the cross braces 34. The frame comprising the bases l2, the blocks I6, and the cross braces 34 connecting them, is supported upon bases or legs 6. The walls 8 are held, oppositely disposed, by a top member 9, to which they are secured between end frames I0 and Il, so as to constitute, in eiect, a single reclining wall.' Though the seats 4 are more or less horizontal, they are shown inclining downwardly toward the walls 8. The booth may be upholstered with cloth or other material, if desired, as illustrated in Figs. 8 and 9.

The cracks at the junctions between the rears of the seats 4 and the reclining walls 8 are closed along their upper lines to prevent objects falling thereinto, thereby to prevent damage by fire from lighted cigarette butts. According to the specic embodiment of the invention illustrated and described herein, the closing means comprises a trough I4 depressed below the seat in each crack, Vand extending substantially throughout the length of the seat. Cigarette butts, crumbs and the like may be received in these troughs after they have rolled down the downwardly inclined seats 4. A Waitress or other attendant may remove cigarette butts or other objects that collect in the troughs I4.

The troughs `I4 are shown semi-cylindrical. Half of each semi-cylinder is formed in an upper corner of one of the wooden blocks IB, and its mating half in an upper corner of an adjacently disposed wooden block I8 which, like the block IB, is shown below the seats and the reclining walls. The blocks I8 are held in oppositely disposed relation by intermediately disposed braces 3B and end braces 31, one of each of which is shown in Fig. 5. At the opposite ends of the booth bench,

l the end frames I0 andV Il are respectively secured to the end braces 31 and to the respective ends of the top member 9, and the walls 8 are secured, at their lower ends, to the respective blocks I8, in any desired manner, as by means of screws, nails, glue, and the like.

The troughs may be constituted merely of longitudinally disposed recesses in these wooden blocks I6 and I8. They may, however, especially in the upholstered booths, be constituted of 1ongitudinal, semi-cylindrical sections of metal or plastic pipe 29 of suitable small diameter, screwed at 38 into these wooden troughs at the junction between the rear of the seat 4 and the reclining wall 8, and open at the top to receive the objects that may roll down the seat. The screws 38 would be covered, of course, in the upholstered modication.

It is frequently desirable to adjust the position of the unit with respect to one of the base legs S, as for the purpose of compensating for differences in level of the door. According to a feature of the present invention, this may be effected by providing the upper end of an intermediately disposed portion 26 of one of the base legs 6 with a centrally disposed upwardly extending tongue 22 that may be adjustably disposed in the space 21 between the oppositely disposed reclining walls 8, at the under side of the walls S. The tongue 22 may be secured in place in the said space 21 between the blocks I8 by means of screws or bolts 28, shown extending through the rear blocks I6 and through the blocks I8, into recesses 24 in the tongue 22. By reason of this action of the screws or bolts 20, the blocks I6 and I8 serve as a combined support for the seat 4, at its rear, and for the lower end of the corresponding reclining wall 8. The trough is disposed in the portion of the combined support extending rearwardly of the rear edge of the seat.

When it is desired to raise the corresponding end of the unit comprising the seats 4, the supports I2 therefor, and the walls 8, the screws or bolts 28 are removed from the recesses 24, the corresponding end of the unit is raised, and the screws or bolts 28 are then re-secured in place in new openings 28 in the tongue 22, as shown in Fig. 4. The parts become thus re-secured together as a unit in adjusted position.

The invention may, of course, be embodied in other types of booth benches than those illustrated; for example, they may be made of metal instead of wood. The unit comprising the seats and the back walls could be mounted either on a wood base, as illustrated, or a base made of tubular or other metal. Other modifications also may be made by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as dened in the appended claims.

Vi/'hat is claimed is:

l. A double-booth bench comprising two adjacently disposed seats, a iront support and a rear support for each seat to which the seat is secured, spaced reclining walls respectively disposed at the rear of the respective seats, a reclining-wall support for each reclining wall secured to the corresponding rear support, each reclining wall being secured to the corresponding reclining-wall support, each rear support and its adjacently disposed reclining-wall support being provided with a trough at the junction between the rear of the corresponding seat and the corresponding reclining wall, part of each trough being formed in an upper corner of the corresponding rear support and its mating part being formed in an upper corner of the adjaoently disposed reclining-wall support, the rearseat and the reclining wall supports being supported by legs, and means for adjusting the position of the seats and the reclining walls as a unit with respect to the legs, the adjusting means comprising a centrally disposed tongue on one of the legs extending upwardly into the space between the rear-seat and the reclining wall supports and adjustably secured to the recliningwall supports.

2. A booth bench comprising a seat, a front support and a rear support to which the seat is secured, a reclining wall disposed at the rear of the seat, and a reclining-wall support for the reclining wall secured to the rear support, the reclining wall being secured to the reclining-wall support, the rear support and the reclining-wall support being provided with a trough at the junction between the rear of the seat and the reclining wall, part of the trough being formed in an upper corner of the rear support and its mating part being formed in an upper corner of the reclining-wall support.

3. A double-booth bench comprising two adjacently disposed seats, a front support and a rear support for each seat to which the seat is secured, a reclining wall at the rear of each seat, a reclining-wall support for each reclining wall secured to the corresponding rear support, each reclining wall being secured to the corresponding reclining-wall support, each rear support and its adjacently disposed reclining-wall support being provided with a trough at the junction between the rear of the corresponding seat and the corresponding reclining wall, part of each trough being formed in an upper corner of the corresponding rear support and its mating part being formed in an upper corner of the adjacently disposed reclining-wall support, and means for holding the reclining walls together, whereby the reclining walls constitute, in eiect, a single reclining wall.

4. A double-booth bench comprising two adjacently disposed seats, a front support and a rear support for each seat to which the seat is secured, a reclining wall at the rear of each seat secured to the corresponding rear support, the rear supports being disposed on the underside of the seats and having portions extending rearwardly of the rear edges of the seats, each provided with a trough depressed below the seats and extending substantially throughout the lengths of the seats at the junctions between the rear of the seats and the corresponding reclining walls, and means for holding the reclining walls together, whereby the reclining walls constitute, in effect, a single reclining wall.

5. A booth bench comprising a seat, a reclining wall disposed at the rear of the seat, means supporting the upper end of the reclining wall, a front support to which the seat is secured and a combined seat-and-reclining-wall support extending substantially throughout the length of the seat to which the seat and the lower end of the reclining wall are secured, the combined support being disposed on the underside of the seat and having a portion extending rearwardly of the rear edge of the seat, and the combined support being provided with a trough extending substantially throughout the length of the seat at the junction between the rear of the seat and the reclining wall.

DAVID RESNICK. 

